I'm old enough to remember when it was a pain to negotiate the 300 miles (500 km) between London and Paris. No more. Regular travelers in particular must appreciate the EuroStar schedule inaugurated November 14 that reduces travel time to just a bit over two hours, down from more than three hours when service was inaugurated in 1994. That doesn't include the time passengers save by avoiding the security hassles of air travel, and EuroStar's seats are considerably better too. Even before the new service, the Chunnel train was claiming a 68% share of trips between the two cities.
The faster travel times are the combined result of new high speed track in England and a new London station at St. Pancras (replacing Waterloo, which no longer has EuroStar service).
What the new service will do to the dress of the English and French remains to be seen. A stretch before, it's practical now for a Londoner to take a day off work for a same day journey to buy pointy-toed shoes in Paris. His Parisian colleagues are equally able to buy flamboyant shirts on Jermyn Street. The Business Class-like Leisure Select non-refundable round trip fare is £199 (about $400), and Standard Class is just a bit more than half that.
It all makes me wonder why the United States doesn't do something similar between Washington, New York and Boston. Amtrak's Acela Express service is a start, but cut the transit times in half and there'd be no need for the eight or more commercial flights that are in the air between those cities every hour during the day. That's a lot of kerosene.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Lifestyle: A Most Useful Conveyance
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11 comments:
Great post, Will. I'm old enough to remember making the 3-hour trip from London to Paris (and back). I like railways. I have fond memories of taking trains throughout Britain, Europe, India, and Africa. More trains (including urban rail) in the US would be a sensible idea. But I think Americans are too dependant on (addicted to?) motor cars, and the speed and convenience associated with them, to take to railways. Still, the 'peak oil' phenomenon, if it is true, may put an end to the mass use of motor cars as we now now them, or at least until an alternative fuel source is developed. Interesting discussion.
What a wonderful thought -- great rail service here in the U.S. . It's the only way I like to travel to New York and is easy enough from Richmond, VA. Although we share lines with freight and have to slow down too much. Still it beats coach or a $50 cab ride into the City on top of air fare and a 5 hour delay on the tarmac.
Did I mention the bar, er .. club car ... snack bar?
I took the train when living in San Jose and working in San Francisco. Quite pleasurable. Beats sitting in traffic and paying $35 for parking. Only drawback.....no bar service as easy and elegant life so correctly points out as another perk.
Bar car! Now there's an idea. I commuted from Greenwich to lower Manhattan for years on Metro-North. The evening rush hour trains included bar cars. It was a relief after a busy day to enter one of these things, order a cocktail, sit down, and chat to one's friends. Sometimes we would have contests to see who could drink the most and remain standing as the train trundled through the 'burbs. Childish, I know. I recall some guys would play cards and gamble, but I believe they were shut down by the authorities.
Cheeveresque! Only with a happier ending.
Anyone else get the impression I should have emphasized EuroStar's drink service in this post?
The problem with a north Atlantic seaboard train, so to speak, is the lack of a straight path in between the cities. The Acela could be a lot faster, but it doesn't have enough straight stretches to build up any serious speed. (This is all how it was explained to me some years ago, so if someone knows better please correct me.) A straighter, faster track could be built but there are a lot of things in the way. Moving those things runs into the same problem that a tunnel does, in that it's too big a project for a nation that isn't that interested in rail travel to begin with.
We may not be interested in rail, but we're going to be very interested in reducing our jet fuel use in the coming decades.
I heard that the electrical power and the roadbed could both be upgraded to support near EuroStar speeds for only a modestly huge amount of money, but that would leave a very expensive problem with a lot of dangerous ground level grade crossings.
I am glad this discussion developed in the direction it did. In early january I'll take the acela from Boston to new York for the annual gathering of The Baker Street Irregulars (the proto-Holmesian organization. Taking the train adds considerably to the civility and gracefulness of the long weekend. We should all resolve to write our representatives and otherwise promote enhanced rail service in US
Supposedly, Amtrak is laying high speed rail between Washington D.C. and Richmond, VA. I hear that it costs about $1M/mile and is hampered by al sorts of issues. We'll see if it comes to fruition.
ludovico,
I will see you in New York for the Baker Street Irregulars Dinner - not sure yet if I will go with suit and tie or tux.
John, NYC
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